Well, it's been a long time since I have written here, or anywhere that isn't social media. For those readers in the future who are interested in World-changing events, We (Meaning everyone on Earth) are in the midst of an epidemic. The COVID-19 virus has infected more than 600,000 people as I write this. It is looking to be a truly world-changing event.
But that's not why you are here. The last time I wrote I was studying Icelandic. That is no longer the case. Just before the start of 2020 I decided to accept the 90 Days with Drops challenge, and committed to studying Norwegian on Drops every day for 90 days. Right now I am on Day 88 of 90, with 91 days study in a row overall. this is a huge accomplishment for me and I am super proud of it. However more importantly than that, my Norwegian has greatly improved! I can introduce myself and when I listen to Norwegian podcasts like Språkteigen (https://radio.nrk.no/serie/spraakteigen) I can understand some phrases and can follow whole topics if they happen to be topics I know a lot about! This is a big deal, and it signals what dedicated study can do for your learning... Even if you are like me and can only study for a short time every day.
So far the Norwegian language is really enjoyable for me. It is fairly intuitive and the grammar is not too complex so far coming from English and French.
There is one aspect of Norwegian that I absolutely love. It's a thing every other Scandinavian language does, and I think maybe it's an aspect of germanic languages, but don't quote me on that. It's compound words. Norwegian has the most amazing, incredible, and fun compound words I have ever seen! And every time I learn a new one it makes me feel happy in a way no words in English do.
English has a lot of compound words:
Everyday
Everyone
Everybody
Anytime
Anybody
Armchair
Backside
Blackberry
Blueberry
Bluebird
and thousands more. Some words like "because" are compound words and we don't think of them that way. So compound words are things we are used to in English; so used to them that we rarely think about them.
There are some compound words in Norwegian that are just crazy to my native English speaking mind.
Tobarnefamilie -A family with two children.
Menneskerettighetserklæring - A Declaration of Human Rights
These are fun, but some compound words in Norwegian are words I just love because they are just... Well look for yourself.
Vannkokker - Electric Kettle (Lit. Water Cooker)
Blomkål - Cauliflower (Lit. Flower-Cabbage)
Gressklipper - Lawnmower (Lit. Grass clipper)
Gulrot - Carrot (Lit. Yellow-root)
Smultring - Doughnut (Lit. Lard ring)
Sykhus - Hospital (Lit. Sick-house)
Thos words are so fun! And some of them look really intimidating in writing, like "Sykhus" (Those are letters that should not go together; my English mind says), but when you pronounce it it sounds almost like "Sick-house"... and suddenly its like "Oh, that makes sense."
Here is my absolute favorite, and my current favorite Norwegian word:
Smertestillende - Asprin or other pain relief medications (Lit. Pain silencer)
This word is so much fun for me, but it was a real struggle to remember for a while... and then Drops had me spelling it! Ugh I love it but I fought with it for a few days. Now I will never forget it!
Compound words are an important part of the Norwegian language. Whether a word is compound or separate can have a huge effect on the meaning. For instance, "røykfritt" means 'Smoke free" but "røyke fritt" means "Smoke Freely". Don't get that mixed up.
It's important in English too, but not so much in the same way. Consider the following sentences:
"You can come over anytime."
"You can come over at any time."
The trick here is that you can make anytime two words... any time... but you can't always use them together.
"You can come over at anytime." That doesn't work because the word "At" needs to be followed at some point by a noun, but anytime is an adverb.
But enough about English.
Norwegian has been wonderful to study, and hopefully soon I will be writing more about it. I also plan to write more about how to make language learning happen when life doesn't seem to give you time. I know I have talked a bit about it before, but it is not talked about enough in my opinion.
Keep up your studies!
You can learn your target language!
You are awesome!
I believe in you!
Please wash your hands regularly and don't touch your face.
